This page includes information and links to resources and organizations with which the Respect Life Office has directly worked to provide relief to Christian refugees fleeing persecution in the Middle East.

Everyone Should Know...

This crisis is not new. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been working for more than 4 years to assist more than 600,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and northern Iraq. They are also working in the transit countries of Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Albania, where resources to help the migrants are limited. Additionally, in response to the Holy Father’s call to help resettle migrants in Europe, CRS is working with Caritas Germany to resettle refugees by providing accommodations, job assistance, early-integration activities and volunteer training.

In addition to providing basic living supplies, CRS is particularly focused on helping children who have been traumatized by the violence and displacement. This includes helping the local Church respond to displaced Christians as well as people of other faiths and backgrounds.

In addition to its humanitarian and resettlement efforts in Europe and the Middle East, the Church is actively involved in advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees here in the United States. USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services (MRS), along with CRS and USCCB's Office for International Justice and Peace (IJP), is urging Congress and the Obama administration to admit 100,000 refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict in Fiscal Year 2016 and an additional 100,000 refugees from other parts of the world. In the meantime, MRS continues to work with Catholic Charities and other partner agencies across the country in anticipation of an increase in refugee admissions from the current conflict.